Sandals Royal Bahamian was a dream! Here is a detailed review of our stay in a Q & A format.  I divided it up by topic so you can easily skip to any answers to questions you may have. I apologize, it’s quite the novel. I’ve been looking forward to sharing this because I know how difficult it is to decide what to do for your honeymoon (and on top of a wedding, eek!) Hope this helps! Feel free to comment or email me with any questions!

Why the Bahamas?

We knew we wanted to go somewhere tropical. Originally we thought of staying at Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii. But after looking at pricing and reading reviews, we thought it might be better to wait and go when we have kids someday.

Both of us have always wanted to visit the Caribbean. Me being only 6 months into a new job, the Bahamas was the least amount of travel time within the amount of vacation time I had.

Why Sandals Royal Bahamian?

We were looking for a resort that was all inclusive. Atlantis seemed very popular, but more expensive, especially when you add in the cost of food/drinks. We liked the location because it was close to a lot of off-site activities, yet it was far enough away from all the “touristy” spots. The property was more appealing to us than the Sandals Emerald Bay resort, and we liked that it had an off shore island.

What room did we get?

We chose the Balmoral Beachfront Butler Suite.  While booking, we were torn between this room and the brand new swim-up suites in the Windsor tower, but after hearing reviews we went with the beachfront room.

The Windsor swim-up suites were facing the side of the resort, which is basically just a wall. It also didn’t seem to get much sun. We tried to check it out and managed to snap a picture, but we were spotted and they told us we weren’t allowed to peek (because they’re “private”).  Oops!

Ultimately, we both agreed that the Balmoral Beachfront suite was the way to go. It was definitely the best room in our opinion. We liked that it was literally within steps from the beach, had a gorgeous view, quick and easy access, and butler service.  It was very nice to be able to go to and from the room quickly. The only downside was that there were flies outside our room – this made it difficult to enjoy our breakfast on the patio. But other than that, it was amazing!

This was the view from our suite patio – Absolutely breathtaking!

Here is a video walk-through of our suite:

How was the resort itself?

It was big, yet small enough to feel more private. We strolled around the property our second day there. There were some nice private villas in the back of the resort. It almost felt like a tiny neighborhood – very nice if you want to be private and need to be near the beach. We stayed in the Balmoral tower, which is the nicer of the two main towers. It has a nice little gym on the top floor with a wonderful view of the ocean.

View from gym on top of Balmoral Tower

The Windsor tower was a little more stuffy feeling when walking through, and the swim up suites didn’t seem as appealing to us (as I said before). Nothing hugely wrong about that tower, I just personally liked the Balmoral one better.

There are two big main pools – one next to each tower. We spent the most time at the Windsor pool because they had music and games going on. It was fun to grab drinks at the swim up bar and socialize with other couples. There are little jacuzzi’s scattered around the resort so if you want more privacy, feel free to wander around and find one that’s more secluded.

They have a ferry that takes you to the offshore island, which is beautiful. We went there on our last day and regretted not spending more time there because it was so peaceful. The backside of the island had the most amazing view of the ocean – there was nothing else in sight. They have a restaurant on the island and both the lunch and dinner were good. We did what other guests told us and tried the conch burgers for lunch… Oh my God. They are soooo good!

And of course there’s the beach – this is nothing like California beaches. The sand is so soft like powder! And the water is so warm, clear, and blue.

Backside of the private island – Gorgeous view of the ocean

What is the nightlife like?

We never felt the need to visit down town to “go out” at night – it didn’t seem as safe and not to mention we would we stick out like a sore thumb.

At the SRB they had many options. You could there’s a fun piano-type bar, a game room area, and there was a theater where they hold some night time entertainment. We attended a talent show as well as a chocolate party where they had chocolate everything – it was heaven.

We loved sitting out on the pier at night while they had a band play by the beach. It was really romantic and fun. One night they had a marching band come and play to celebrate their Independence Day.

You have many options of things to do – feel free to go for a night swim as well! Or like us, spend some time in your room.

What was the weather like?

We were there July 7^th-14^th and it was mostly sunny and on average around 80/90 degrees I would say. There were a few rain showers with thunder and lightning, but they would come and go (mostly in the afternoon) and only last for about an hour.

What should I bring?

1. Definitely bring sunscreen. I was good about re-applying but did get a little burned on my arms while we were in the pool one day. Aaron got scorched on his back that day – I think it was because we were using his “spray-on” sunscreen and that stuff is no good. They had some wonderful aloe lotion/gel at their spa that worked better than anything else we tried.
2. Bring lots of bathing suits. I brought cover ups too, but I only needed them for eating at restaurants during the day.
3. Bring nice clothes for dinner. For men – bring dress pants. Women – Bring nice dresses. Aaron brought nice jeans but didn’t bring any dress pants. We saw a few other couples like us who missed the memo, and overheard some stuck up woman make a snotty comment about it to our waiter.
4. Bring bug repellent. I was smart enough to bring some, but dumb enough not to put it on the first night we were there. I got attacked while we were relaxing on the hammock.  It seems that they are mostly near the sand and come out at night – so after that I made sure to apply repellent every night before dinner.

I looked like a leper!

What kind of food did they have?

All kinds! They had a lot of variety – American, Seafood, Asian Fusion (Teppanyaki & sushi), Italian, Steak, etc. For breakfast we liked going to Spices because they had a huge buffet. Breakfast is my favorite meal so I tried everything. Omelets, eggs benedict and French toast – Yum!

We ate at a different restaurant each night. Here is the order in which we ate and a brief review:

1. Casanova – (Italian) Loved the buffet bar, didn’t enjoy the entrees as much as we’d hoped.
2. Stew Fish – For dinner: We enjoyed the appetizers more than the entrees, but wasn’t bad.

For lunch: Conch burger is the way to go. The pork sliders were good as well. So good       we didn’t even eat touch our fries because we were so full!

3. Kimonos – (Asian fusion) Teppanyaki-style. You can get the sushi bar as an appetizer. All very good. We ended up going there again on our last night as well. Experience is fun depending on who you get grouped sitting with.
4. Crystal Room– Delicious! I had a chicken dish and it was amazing.
5. Gordon’s on the Pier – Our favorite. We loved the whole experience and the food was amazing. I believe you can only eat there if you have a butler suite.
6. Baccarat – Very good as well, but personally we liked Crystal Room and Gordon’s better.

Click here to see their restaurant page with descriptions of each.

During the day they have a pizza warmer with different kinds of pizza – ready by the slice! This was heaven for Aaron, since pizza is his favorite. We would even call our butler when we were on our way home from an excursion to have a personal one made and waiting for us when we got back to the room. Pretty convenient!

Then on top of that- there was 24/7 room service. This especially came in handy the first night, since we were pretty jet lagged. Decent selection, but wasn’t the greatest tasting food.

What was it like to have a butler?

We loved our butlers! We had 3: Vincent, Kenese, and Nitika. They would rotate during different shifts. They gave us a cell phone to contact them and they would check in with us throughout the day.

They book all the dinner reservations for you, they are on call if you need anything, they can prep things for you before you need them, they set up your room to be all romantic when you return at the end of the night.

They were very fun, happy people and we quickly became friends. A butler isn’t necessary by any means, but they do come with the suite wanted and they helped make our dream honeymoon just a little bit easier on us. (Read on if you want to know about tipping.)

Do you need to bring cash?

Yes, just in case. Don’t worry, they take U.S. dollars and you won’t need much. You will need it only if you are planning on going off site or for tipping the butlers. Other than those instances, we left our wallets in the safe in our room. Expect that if you take a taxi to/from Paradise Island, it will cost anywhere from $10-$20 per person, one way. You will also need extra cash for food, etc.

Regular Sandals employees are not allowed to accept tips. However, we were informed upon arrival that our butlers may be tipped at the end of our stay. For 5 nights with 3 butlers, we ended up leaving them each a $100 tip. If you go to the concierge room they will give you envelopes for each butler.

What excursions/activities did you do?

We spent about half of the week we were there doing off site excursions. We booked 2 excursions through Sandals, even though they were actually through 3^rd party companies. It was about the same cost, if not cheaper than if you booked on your own. I actually preferred doing it through sandals, so it was paid for ahead of time and we wouldn’t have to worry about booking reservations while we were there. The two that we booked were Dolphin Encounter and Sailing and Snorkeling.

Dolphin Encounter

This was located at the Blue Lagoon Island. The company there arranges a shuttle to pick you up for your booking, as well as others from different resorts, and takes you to a pier on Paradise Island (which took about 30 minutes). From there you wait for a ferry that takes you to the Dolphin Encounter location. There was no extra cost for transportation.

It was a pretty nice ride – about another 30 minutes to get there. While riding the ferry, we passed a bunch of celebrity mansions belonging to Chuck Norris, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Tiger Woods, and Oprah. We also saw Eddie Murphy’s private island, as well as the island where Gilligan’s Island was filmed. Apparently, Oprah had just arrived in her yacht:

Oprah’s House

When you get there you meet in a room, where they teach you a bunch of interesting facts about dolphins. They explain where their dolphins come from, as well as how to treat dolphins in the wild. Then they split you up into your group (about 30 people) and send you with a trainer to the water. We basically took turns doing each trick/interaction with the dolphin. Our dolphin’s name was Clifton and he was very cute and seemed happy. The trainer was very funny and played a couple harmless pranks on people. It was a very memorable experience and definitely worth it.

Sailing and Snorkeling

Transportation was about the same as it was for the dolphin encounter. We were taken to the same pier on Paradise Island. Instead of a ferry, we hopped onto a large sailboat with a big group of people. Surprisingly it managed to hold all of us! We rode it out past Blue Lagoon Island, to a smaller, offshore one. We jumped off of the boat and swam around the coral reef. It was very cool to see the fish up close. A little advice for men – shave your face. Aaron’s beard was causing his goggles to leak and he had to hold it down with one hand in order to snorkel. We took some underwater videos and photos with Aaron’s iPhone (in a Lifeproof, waterproof phone case).

On the way back, we even blasted some music and did some dancing. How can you possibly turn down an opportunity to do the Macarena?!

Both excursions were fun and we recommend both. If you have done snorkeling before, it’s pretty much the same as anywhere else. Aaron said that the dolphin experience was better than he has had at other resorts he’s been to. And in case you were wondering, both were kid-friendly. But if you’re staying at sandals, then that’s no concern for you.

Atlantis

Since we decided not to stay there, we thought it would be nice to check it out for a day. It is a HUGE resort… and very busy. Think of a cross between Disneyland and a Las Vegas hotel. There is something for everyone: an Aquarium, sharks, sting rays, baby sea turtles, casinos, water slides, beach access, bars, and nice restaurants. We only went during the day so we bought the highest day package for about $130 per person (they take credit card). It included access to pretty much everything, including the pools/water slides. We did the sightseeing stuff first and then spent the rest of the day at the water park.

The Aquarium was very cool. It was sort of an underground cave that you kept walking through and leads you in a loop. We saw some huge sting rays and they had a tunnel with lobsters crawling all around you.

After that we ventured through the casinos and found the shark tunnel. It was fun to walk through and we got some cool slow motion videos of them swimming over us.

The pool area was insane.  It was like a huge water park and there were about 4 slides with very long lines. There were a lot of cruise lines docking and dropping off visitors. The rental lockers came in handy. We enjoyed the “lazy river” (even though it was hardly lazy at all!) It had rapids and even took you up to a water slide. We went around it a couple of times and we even met pro basketball player, DeAndre Jordan from the Clippers!

Aaron was pretty star struck (even though he is a Lakers fan!

Any other recommendations?

The last day we were there, we were told by another couple we made friends with on the trip about the Sandals Select memberships. We went to check it out and it is basically a rewards program where you earn points for each Sandals trip and then you can use those points towards discounts on future trips. When we sat down with the representative they told us about a special deal we could book a 5-night trip to Jamaica the following year, get a butler room, and use the points we earned for about half as much as we spent for this trip. It was no strings attached – we had to put down a $600 deposit, but could reschedule or cancel up to 30 days before the trip and get our full deposit back. Knowing how much fun we had on this trip, we couldn’t say no! It was exciting knowing we could look forward to another week of bliss in the next year. If you end up visiting a sandals resort and loving it as much as we did, I would highly recommend looking into a membership.

All in all – it was the best trip of our lives. We know for a fact that we want to go back again some day. If you are thinking about going – don’t have any doubts because you are guaranteed to have an amazing time. Feel free to ask me anything else you have questions about!